Saying “Even Richard Nixon knew it was time to resign” and adding that Nixon’s resignation, belated though it was, ranked as one final action of nonpartisanship, Olbermann urged George W. Bush to emulate Nixon, “not for self, not for party,” but for the country.

Olbermann also prefaced his speech, in one of several promotional moments, with the comment that “No one is holding their breath on this, but frankly, were Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush true patriots, they would resign.”

Olbermann’s “Special Comment on Resignation” followed his five-part Countdown of the day’s events, mostly focused on Bush’s commuting the sentence of Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby. Quoting John Wayne on JFK after the election of 1960 – “I didn’t vote for him, but I hope he does a good job” – Olbermann apostrophized Bush, “that is what you threw away,” in commuting Libby’s sentence – “an implicit trust, a sacred trust” that at some times a president, always head of a political party, can “suspend his political self.” Olbermann said that Bush took the "sacred oath of nonpartisanship," ceded willingly to him by most citizens after 9/11, and "honed it," "sharpened it," and "stabbed it" into the heart of Americans who trusted him when he decided to cut his man loose after he was convicted by a jury of his peers and by a fair judge.

The entire speech (most of which went by too fast for any transcription not in shorthand to catch) was strong. Olbermann referred to Bush as “president of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican party” – the high-priced neocon faction in the pro-war media. Referring to the fact that the commutation occurred without the courtesy of consulting with the DOJ, etc, Olbermann suggested accurately that it raises the suspicion that someone told Libby, “Break the law however you choose, you will not go to prison!”

In a long and serious string of j’accuse statements, Olbermann began with, “I accuse you, Mr. President, of lying this country into war,” and ended with the appearance of a “carte blanche” given regarding Libby and Cheney’s treatment of Joseph Wilson – culminating with the commutation of Libby’s sentence, thus “you [the president] becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.”

UPDATE: Here's the "J'accuse" section...

I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.

I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.

I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.

I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.

I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but to stifle dissent.

I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.

I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.

I accuse you of handing part of this Republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.

And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.

The Countdown, including informed commentary by David Shuster and constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley, was useful in itself; several of the perpetual ‘talking points’ – i.e. falsehoods – put around by the noise machine to downplay the CIA leak were rebutted again, not that rebuttal will stop the GOP, which to this day insists that “no crime was committed" – meaning that they claim obstruction of justice is not a crime.

Kudos to you Keith, for saying what many of us have been thinking for at least 4 years. The irony of a president ruling this way, with the clearest cut non-mandate in both the 2000 and 2004 election never seems to enter his mind.

The self-proclaimed "Most trusted man in America", now YOU know the REST of the story! Good day?

Senile corporate STOOGE Paul Harvey is just as bad as Limbaugh and Hannity, but we cut him a break because he's a "kindly old man"? Who "self-proclaims" that he's "the most trusted man in America"? Check out all his sponsors, including Wal-Mart. AND LifeLock. The FBI/CIA sets 'em up? And Paul "Corporate Stooge" Harvey knocks 'em down!!!

Olberman had guts to speak his peace. The media has not done their job with Bush and has given him free pass after free pass. Maybe now folks will wake up to what a mess he and Cheney have made of the good ole USA.

You knew the man was doing something right when they anthraxed him. Thank you Keith for your bravery! But if you could just get General Electric to under stand they could still make plenty of profits with out killing people by getting our country/world to switch over to this energy:

I agree with you Keith Olbermann. I am a political mutt with conservative and liberal views but cannot subscribe wholeheartedly to one party. I wish only to serve the constitution. However, I have seen this administration ignore it time and again. I wish Democrats would chill with the harsh politics and I wish the Republicans would do the same but also WAKE UP! Bush is not a conservative! Neocon philosophy is dangerous to a healthy democracy. Any president that refers to the constitution as "just a G** damned piece of paper!" should shock both liberals and conservatives. SAVE THE REPUBLIC!!!

Brent, you'll have to let us know some day what "harsh politics" the Democrats are throwing out there. You mean like expecting the Rethuglican scum to obey the laws, the constitution? You mean like not wanting to allow the President to continue a useless war that's killing people and was based on lies and delusions? You mean like expecting federal agencies to do the work they were created to do, from the FTC to the FCC to the FDA to the DoE to, well, just name ANY Federal Agency, and it's been stocked with ill-equipped cronies who work for the people they are supposed to be regulating.

Brent, you TALK a mean game of "I'm an independent" but the fact is, if you arnt' ANTI-RETHUGLICAN then you are just another "good American" who isn't doing their part to destroy the scurge that is the Rethuglican Party.

You want to "save the republic" then acknowledge that it is NOT a Democratic administration that has done these things. It was six years of RETHUGLICAN rule with a RETHUGLICAN rubber-stamp congress that did these things. THe Democrats are just stupid enablers without the balls to do the right thing and then stand up to the right-wing slanted, corporate-controlled Rethuglican Media Spin Machine and defend themselves for doing it, so in the end, they wimp out and hope the Rethuglicans will self-destruct without pulling down the whole country in the process. Personally, I think it's a cynical and stupid strategy.

I wonder if Limbaugh or Hannity have even evoked the name of Keith Olbermann yet. I'll bet not. Of course, in the large scheme of things, Olbermann doesn't exist, but I love him nonetheless. I still don't really trust about 2/3's of the regulars he has on the show. I like John Dean and Jonathan Turley.

Charlie, if letting so many more thousands die in Iraq STRICTLY so as to use *'s war to get more votes in '08 doesn't count as "harsh politics" I don't know what does. The perfidy of the Democratic Party is quite as obscene as that of the Republican Party. That is why the republic needs saving at all. If it were only the Republicans, they would all be behind bars by now.

CharlieL, the Democrats are just as guilty as the Repubs - they let them get away with it all! Maybe someday, everyone will have to answer for gw's admin. Yes, we sign petitions, send money, blog, but gw just goes on with his ill deeds. gw should have been impeached years ago.

I may be a conservative Libertarian, but I need my brothers and sisters, my fellow Americans, with me, so that my voice can be heard.

If you "progressives" are serious (I do hate the slang affect given to the term "liberal"---Rove and fallwell and Robertson are suce total assholes aren't they?), If you progressives are serious, come with me then.

And the media is not getting all the Republican 2008 presidential candidates ON RECORD, whether they are FOR or AGAINST this PARDON! And it's a pardon, because Libby will not even pay the $250,000.00 (his PNAC and WHIG profiteers will), and I'm sure his "probation" will be like if I got probation, right?

GET THE REPUBLICAN 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ON RECORD, ABOUT THE LIBBY DECISION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF only it WERE a pardon. IF it were a pardon, then Libby could be forced to testify (truthfully) about what he knows. In the form it is in now, he can still claim the 5th.

I agree that Democrats have been complicit in much of what has happened in the last 6-1/2 years, and ESPECIALY in decisions made in the last 6 months, but we must never stop making the clear destinction between the abysmall, disgusting, immoral, criminal and hypocritical Rethuglicans and the just plain stupid, weak, spineless and immoral Democrats.

The Rethuglicans STOLE power and continue to loot and rape both our treasury and our reputation in the world.

The biggest crime you can accuse the Democrats of is being so stupid as to think just "waiting them out" is a strategy for success and a way to convince the American people that you actually STAND for something.

If you STAND for something (like justice, honesty in government, limiting war to self-defense, etc.) then you have to STAND UP FOR IT some times, even if you might get smacked down.

I agree that Democrats have been complicit in much of what has happened in the last 6-1/2 years,

heh heh heh Much? try "All of"

We better get our grove on. National Defense is not what it should be. Our ports, borders, food, health, and energy are already at risk! And we ain't even talking about natural disasters like the SEA RISING....